San Diego County Biographies

JOHN MASON DODGE

Submitted by Kathy Sedler

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	One of the best examples of San Diego's self-made men is represented by 
the name at the head of this article, who is the popular City Treasurer, and has 
during his residence here made for himself, by a course of uprightness and 
integrity, a host of friends and supporters of a character which assures his 
future success in any undertaking his ambitions may point to.  Mr. Dodge is the 
son of Rev. R. V. Dodge, late pastor of the Presbyterian Church of this city. He 
was born at Springfield, Illinois, July 18, 1853, and moved with his parents 
four years later to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he resided during the late 
civil war, after which
he resided for a time at Washington, Pennsylvania. In June, 1869, he entered 
upon a course of study at the State University at Madison, Wisconsin, which he 
completed in two years, and entered the hardware business. In 1872, his father 
accepting a call to become pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of San 
Francisco, Mr. Dodge accompanied him and there resumed his collegiate studies, 
this time at the University Mound College of South San Francisco, of which the 
well-known educator, Rev. Dr. Burroughs, was then president. Mr. Dodge's next 
change was to Chicago, where his brother, R. V. Dodge, Jr., then resided. 
Becoming fascinated with the employment in which his brother was then engaged 
(railroad engineering), he shortly succeeded in securing a position as fire­man 
on the Illinois Central Railroad, which he held for five years, after which he 
passed a try­ing examination and was promoted to the posi­tion of engineer. In 
1878 Mr. Dodge was selected by the lodge of Locomotive Firemen, to which he 
belonged, to represent it at the Grand Lodge which convened that year at 
Buffalo, New York. Discharging this duty with marked ability, he was elected by 
the Grand Lodge to the office of Vice-Grand Master of the Brotherhood of 
Locomotive Firemen of the United States and Canada, which office he filled with 
honor to himself and credit to the order which he represents.
        In 1879 Mr. Dodge was married, at Chicago, to Louise Birdsall, daughter 
of Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Millspaugh, of that city, and a year later he rejoined his 
parents, who had but recently moved from San Francisco to San Diego. His brother 
had preceded him by a few months, and the two are now interested with their 
father in creating the attractive home-place near the city, known so well as 
Marilon Park.
        At the solicitation of friends, Mr. Dodge, in 1882, reluctantly 
consented to the use of his name as a candidate for the office of County Clerk. 
Being a comparative stranger in the county, and belonging to the political party 
then in the ascendency, Dodge's decided victory over his opponent is to be taken 
as the best evidence of the great popularity he already enjoyed. In two 
succeeding elections he was equally successful. In the Presidential canvass of 
1888, Mr. Dodge was defeated by the small vote of twenty-three. In the city 
election of April, 1889, Mr. Dodge was elected City Treasurer and Tax Collector 
by a handsome majority, which position he held until March 8,1890; when he 
resigned. He is now engaged in the fire and life insurance and real-estate 
business, with Captain Thomas A. Nerney as his partner. Mr. Dodge resigned on 
account of his weariness of political life, etc.
 
SOURCE:  An Illustrated History of Southern California:  Embracing the Counties 
of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower 
California… Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890.  p.-  251-252